(NEW YORK) — Evacuation orders have been issued in several regions in the West due to spreading wildfires.
Thousands of residents in Northern California and Montana were ordered to flee their homes as both new and existing wildfires neared neighborhoods.
Currently, about 90 large wildfires are burning in 12 states in the West — much of which is suffering from severe drought conditions.
The Dixie Fire, which has been burning near the Feather River Canyon in Northern California for weeks, prompted new evacuation orders in Greenville.
The Dixie Fire — the largest in the state — has been through more than 253,000 acres and is just 35% contained. The extreme fire behavior is being exacerbated by hot and dry conditions with gusty winds are persisting in the area, making it difficult for firefighters to battle the blaze.
The McFarland Fire in Wildwood, California, prompted evacuations in the area after it grew to more than 15,000 acres and remains just 5% contained. Critical fire weather is in effect in the region through Wednesday.
Evacuation warnings are in effect for the Monument Fire in Big Bar, California, after scorching through more than 6,000 acres. It is 0% contained.
The Boulder 2700 Fire near Polson, Montana, burned through nearly 1,500 acres by Tuesday afternoon and prompted evacuations over the weekend. Multiple structures have been destroyed by the fire, but cool, wet and humid weather will help to contain it.
The spread of the wildfires had slowed last week but picked back up as the moisture from the monsoons in the Southwest disappeared, with lightning strikes sparking more.
At least 35 new wildfires ignited over the weekend due to lightning strikes. Dozens of wildfires have sparked in Oregon alone over the last 48 hours, while 13 new fires have started in the last 24 hours in Montana.
Six states in the West, from Arizona to Washington, are currently under fire and heat alerts, while red flag warnings have been issued in Oregon and Northern California.
Excessive heat warnings are also in effect this week for the Southwest, including Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona.
ABC News’ Melissa Griffin and Max Golembo contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and a growing number of New York lawmakers are calling for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign after the state’s attorney general said he was found to have sexually harassed multiple women.
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday announced the results of her office’s four-month probe into the allegations, saying current and former state employees were among the women Cuomo sexually harassed. In at least one instance, the governor is accused of seeking to retaliate against a woman who leveled accusations against him.
Cuomo has previously denied the sexual misconduct allegations, saying in March that he would not resign despite mounting calls and new accusations. He bashed politicians who were already calling for him to leave office at the time, accusing them of bowing to “cancel culture.”
In the wake of James’ investigation, a slew of state and local lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in New York are renewing their calls for the governor to step down.
Biden on Tuesday afternoon called on Cuomo to resign, but stopped short of calling for impeachment.
“I think he should resign,” the president said during unrelated remarks about COVID-19. “I understand that the state legislature may decide to impeach. I don’t know that for fact, I’ve not read all that data.”
The president said he had not spoken to the governor Tuesday, but he had previously told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that Cuomo should resign if the allegations were confirmed.
When asked if Cuomo should be impeached or removed from office if he does not resign, Biden said, “Let’s take one thing at a time.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., reiterated their past calls for Cuomo to resign in a new statement Tuesday.
“The New York State Attorney General has conducted an independent, thorough and professional investigation that found the Governor violated state and federal law, had a pattern of sexually harassing current and former employees, retaliated against at least one of the accusers and created a hostile work environment,” the senators said.
“No elected official is above the law,” Schumer and Gillibrand added. “The people of New York deserve better leadership in the governor’s office. We continue to believe that the Governor should resign.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said it is “beyond clear” that Cuomo can no longer serve as governor in a statement Tuesday.
“It is beyond clear that Andrew Cuomo is not fit to hold office and can no longer serve as Governor,” de Blasio said. “He must resign, and if he continues to resist and attack the investigators who did their jobs, he should be impeached immediately.”
The mayor also commended the women who came forward and lauded the attorney general’s report that he said substantiates these “disturbing instances of severe misconduct.”
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, also called for resignation or impeachment.
“Attorney General James conducted a thorough and revealing investigation that yielded disturbing conclusions about the conduct of Governor Cuomo,” Adams said. “It is now the duty of the New York State Assembly to take swift and appropriate action and move forward with impeachment proceedings if the Governor will not resign.”
In a joint statement Tuesday, Reps. Tom Suozzi, Hakeem Jeffries and Gregory Meeks — three Democratic New York lawmakers who had previously not called on Cuomo to resign — reversed course.
“The office of Attorney General Tish James conducted a complete, thorough and professional investigation of the disturbing allegations against Governor Andrew Cuomo. The investigation has found that the Governor engaged in abusive behavior toward women, including subordinates, created a hostile work environment and violated state and federal law,” the congressmen stated. “We commend the brave women who came forward and spoke truth to power. The time has come for Governor Andrew Cuomo to do the right thing for the people of New York State and resign.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., commended the women who came forward “to speak their truth” in a statement Tuesday.
“Recognizing his love of New York and the respect for the office he holds, I call upon the Governor to resign,” Pelosi added.
New York state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat, similarly for Cuomo to be out in a statement Tuesday.
“This report highlights unacceptable behavior by Governor Cuomo and his administration. As I said, when these disturbing allegations first came to light, the Governor must resign for the good of the state,” Stewart-Cousins said. “Now that the investigation is complete and the allegations have been substantiated, it should be clear to everyone that he can no longer serve as Governor.”
State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, also a Democrat, said in a separate statement that the governor “must step aside or be removed.”
“These damning findings from Attorney General James, who has done a great job, show quite clearly that the governor must resign — and if he will not, that he should be impeached,” Kaminsky, a former federal prosecutor, added. “Not only has Gov. Cuomo broken the law by committing disturbing and dehumanizing acts against women, he has engaged in retaliation against his accusers, and also abused his power as an employer, boss, and the leader of New York and most powerful person in this state.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican representing New York’s 21st district, called on Cuomo to “resign and be arrested immediately” and urged President Joe Biden to “immediately call for Cuomo’s resignation.”
On the other side of the aisle, the progressive New York Working Families Party also called for Cuomo’s resignation, tweeting, “The facts are clear. Andrew Cuomo is unfit to lead and must resign or be removed from office.”
New York Assemblyman Ron Kim, a vocal critic of Cuomo’s pandemic nursing homes scandal, said the governor “must be removed from office immediately.”
“There are no platinum band-aids left to cover up the fact that this governor continues to abuse his office to benefit himself and those around him,” Kim stated. “New Yorkers have had enough. We must return to session immediately and begin the impeachment proceedings.”
Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for New York City comptroller and a city council member, said in a tweet that Cuomo “should have resigned in March.”
“He should resign now. If he does not, he should be impeached,” Lander added. “If he is not, he should be defeated at the polls.”
Finally, in a statement via Twitter, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said simply: “The Attorney General’s findings are clear. The Governor must resign immediately.”
(WASHINGTON) — Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 200,000 individuals at the southern border in July, reaching a number not seen in two decades, according to preliminary figures reference by a senior Department of Homeland Security official in a court filing Monday.
In the first 29 days of July, CBP encountered an average of 6,779 individuals per day, including 616 unaccompanied children and 2,583 individuals in family units. Overall, the agency encountered a “record” 19,000 unaccompanied minors during that period and the second-highest number of family unit encounters, at around 80,000, Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy at the DHS David Shahoulian said in the filing.
The number of individuals encountered at the border is the highest since fiscal year 2000, according to CBP records. Unauthorized migrants encountered by CBP in the border region are arrested and detained for processing. So far this year, the majority have been expelled under Title 42, a decades-old section of the public health code implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, but more than 300,000 have been remanded to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody or released with future court dates.
Border crossings have been increasing, rising every month since October 2020. Last month, 188,829 migrants attempted to cross the border, according to CBP, reaching 210,000 encounters with individuals at the southern border in July. By comparison, in July 2019, CBP encountered 81,000 individuals attempting to cross the border, and in July 2020, the number was 40,000.
The filing came in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups seeking to overturn the Title 42 restrictions along the southern border. The Trump-era measure currently restricts anyone coming into the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coalition of advocacy groups fighting Title 42 expulsions argue the measure illegally restricts access to asylum opportunities for those fleeing violence and persecution. Immigration officials have acknowledged the rapid nature of the expulsions — with some carried out in less than 24 hours.
While Shahoulian suggested the number of border crossers were unique individuals, typically when CBP reports encounters it includes those who have made multiple crossing attempts. In June, for example, about a third of migrants arrested at the border had attempted to cross at least once before in 2021.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday — the same day the ACLU renewed its lawsuit — that it would extend Title 42, continuing to cite concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CDC order, which does exempt unaccompanied minors, “temporarily suspends the introduction of certain noncitizens based on the Director’s determination that introduction of such noncitizens” through the Mexico or Canada border “creates a serious danger of the introduction of COVID-19 into the United States,” the agency said in a press release Monday.
Homeland Security Secretary Aljeandro Mayorkas told reporters at a news conference in Mexico City in June that Title 42 is “not a tool of immigration policy.”
But Shahoulian, in the court filing, said that CBP has “limited capacity to hold and process families, and the current migrant surge and ongoing pandemic have only compounded these issues.”
He said the delta variant of COVID-19 has made the situation at the border more complicated because of the speed in which it spreads.
“The rates at which encountered noncitizens are testing positive for COVID-19 have increased significantly in recent weeks,” he said.
He added that lifting the Title 42 restrictions now would be a danger to not only migrants, but also to DHS employees.
“And although the rate of infection among CBP officers had been declining, this rate recently began increasing again, even though the percentage of officers and agents who have been fully vaccinated has grown significantly since January. This has led to increasing numbers of CBP personnel being isolated and hospitalized,” he said.
The extension of Title 42 was cheered by Republicans who have maintained there is a crisis along the southern border due to the influx of migrants coming into the country.
“Good news: Title 42 authority has been extended,” former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf tweeted on Tuesday. “Absolutely needed to address COVID and the border crisis that is growing worse every month.”
The Biden administration has made other efforts to reduce the number of migrants under Homeland Security custody. Since the beginning of this year, it has worked to set up emergency shelters for unaccompanied minors, and employees from across the federal government have been sent on temporary assignments to staff immigration facilities.
Authorities at the border even started releasing a growing number of migrants into the interior of the U.S. without court dates, ABC News reported earlier this year.
(CHEYENNE, Wyo.) — An Illinois woman is facing federal charges for allegedly disturbing wildlife in Yellowstone National Park after a video surfaced of her attempting to get an up-close cellphone photo of a momma grizzly bear and her three cubs.
Bob Murray, the U.S. attorney for the district of Wyoming, announced on Monday that charges have been filed against 25-year-old Samantha R. Dehring of Carol Stream, Illinois.
Dehring is ordered to appear before a magistrate judge in Mammoth Hot Spring, Wyoming, on Aug. 26 to answer to charges of willfully remaining, approaching and photographing wildlife within 100 yards. She is also charged with one count of feeding, touching, teasing, frightening or intentionally disturbing wildlife.
If convicted, she could be sentenced to up to a year in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, Murray said in a statement.
The allegations marked the latest in a series of incidents of Yellowstone visitors behaving badly, including a man authorities say was arrested for taunting a bison and two men charged with “thermal trespassing” for breaching barriers to take up-close photos of the park’s famed Old Faithful geyser.
Attempts by ABC News to reach Dehring for comment were not successful.
With the help of tourists who witnessed and video-recorded Dehring’s close encounter with a grizzly bear family, U.S. Park Police managed to identify her and track her down, Murray said.
The incident unfolded on May 10, in the Roaring Mountain area of Yellowstone, Murray said.
“While other visitors slowly backed off and got into their vehicles, Dehring remained,” Murray said.
A video shot by a tourist showed Dehring standing roughly 15 feet from a grizzly bear taking a photo of the animal with her cellphone. She backed away only after the bear briefly charged at her and then retreated. Other bears nearby appeared to be startled by the encounter and ran into the forest.
Murray said U.S. Park Rangers from Yellowstone provided the results of their investigation to U.S. Rangers in the area where Dehring lives and they served her in person with the violation notices.
(WASHINGTON) — Top members of the Department of Justice last year rebuffed another DOJ official who asked them to urge officials in Georgia to investigate and perhaps overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the state — long a bitter point of contention for former President Donald Trump and his team — before the results were certified by Congress, emails reviewed by ABC News show.
The emails, dated Dec. 28, 2020, show the former acting head of DOJ’s civil division, Jeffrey Clark, circulating a draft letter — which he wanted then-acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue to sign off on — urging Georgia’s governor and other top officials to convene the state legislature into a special session so lawmakers could investigate claims of voter fraud.
“The Department of Justice is investigating various irregularities in the 2020 election for President of the United States,” the draft letter said. “The Department will update you as we are able on investigatory progress, but at this time we have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.”
The draft letter states: “While the Department of Justice believe[s] the Governor of Georgia should immediately call a special session to consider this important and urgent matter, if he declines to do so, we share with you our view that the Georgia General Assembly has implied authority under the Constitution of the United States to call itself into special session for [t]he limited purpose of considering issues pertaining to the appointment of Presidential Electors.”
The vote count in Georgia became a flashpoint for Trump and his allies and Trump at one point falsely claimed that it was “not possible” for him to have lost the state.
But to date, the Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would tip the results of the presidential election. Attorney General William Barr also announced in December that the department had “not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome of the election.” A statewide audit in Georgia last year also affirmed that Biden was the winner.
The emails were provided by the DOJ to the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating efforts to overturn the election results. And they come as the DOJ investigator general looks at whether any officials in the department sought to overturn the outcome of the election.
Last week the Department of Justice sent letters to six former Trump DOJ officials telling them that they can participate in Congress’ investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. One of those letters was to former Associate Deputy AG Patrick Hovakimian, who sources said sat for a transcribed interview Tuesday morning with the House Oversight Committee. Hovakimian is copied on the emails referenced above.
Notes from Donoghue released last week appeared to show that Trump tried to pressure the DOJ to assert that there was significant fraud in the election.
ABC News has requested comment from Clark but has not yet received a response. A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to request for comment, nor did an attorney for Donoghue.
Clark attached the draft letter in an email to Rosen and Donoghue telling them “I think we should get it out as soon as possible.”
“Personally, I see no valid downsides to sending out the letter,” Clark wrote. “I put it together quickly and would want to do a formal cite check before sending but I don’t think we should let unnecessary moss grow on this.”
Clark separately asked for Rosen and Donoghue to authorize them to receive a classified briefing led by then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe the next day related to “foreign election interference issues,” while referencing an unspecified theory about hackers having evidence that a Dominion voting machine “accessed the Internet through a smart thermostat with a net connection trail leading back to China.”
Donoghue responded a little more than an hour later shooting down Clark’s request to sign on to the draft letter.
“There is no chance that I would sign this letter or anything remotely like this,” Donoghue said. “While it maybe true that the Department ‘is investigating various irregularities in the 2020 election for President’ (something we typically would not state publicly) the investigations that I am aware of relate to suspicions of misconduct that are of such a small scale that they simply would not impact the outcome of the Presidential Election.”
Donoghue closed his email response by stating that, while he was available to speak to Clark directly about his request, “from where I stand, this is not even within the realm of possibility.”
Donoghue cited former Attorney General William Barr’s previous statements that the department had no indication fraud had impacted the election to a significant degree, and that no information had surfaced since Barr’s departure that changed that assessment.
“Given that,” he said, “I cannot imagine a scenario in which the Department would recommend that a State assemble its legislature to determine whether already-certified election results should somehow be overriden by legislative action.”
He added that the draft letter’s statement that DOJ would update lawmakers on the investigatory progress was “dubious as we do not typically update non-law enforcement personnel on the progress of any investigations.”
Later that evening, Rosen responded as well, telling both Clark and Donoghue, “I confirmed again today that I am not prepared to sign such a letter.”
The New York Times reported in January about Clark appealing to Donoghue and Rosen to co-sign the draft letter.
In the days after the exchange, as ABC News has previously confirmed, both Rosen and Donoghue thwarted an attempt by Clark to have Trump appoint him acting attorney general.
(WASHINGTON) — A Pentagon police officer was attacked during a shooting and stabbing incident at the Pentagon Transit Center earlier Tuesday, Department of Defense officials have confirmed.
Chief Woodrow Kusse, who leads the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, joined Pentagon spokesman John Kirby at an afternoon press briefing to address the incident, but he would not provide details about casualties.
“This morning at about 10:37 a.m., a Pentagon police officer was attacked on the Metro Bus platform. Gunfire was exchanged. And there were — there were several casualties. The incident is over, the scene is secure and — most importantly — there’s no continuing threat to our community,” he said.
“The scene is safe and secure,” he added. “There were a number of people that fled and there were some erroneous reports.”
The FBI is leading the investigation into the attack.
Pressed on reports on whether an officer died, he said he couldn’t release those details as the investigation is ongoing.
“I don’t want to compromise the integrity of that process right now,” he said.
“I’m not confirming or denying those particular reports right now the investigation is ongoing. And I do promise to get back as soon as possible, with further details but I can’t release those right now,” he said, pressed also on details about the assailant.
“We are not actively looking for another suspect,” Kusse added.
The Pentagon was placed on lockdown Tuesday morning after the incident at the Pentagon Transit Center involving a stabbing and a shooting, according to a separate U.S. official.
The lockdown was later lifted and the Pentagon reopened, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency said shortly after noon.
The Pentagon had no details regarding the assailant’s motivation Tuesday afternoon, but Kusse said they will review the results of the investigation before making a determination on whether security measures should change.
“Every time an incident occurs, whether it’s here or anywhere else across the nation or in the world, we do after actions on those we examine them, we look for things that we can do to improve. But right now, again, it’s still pending, we will certainly, as this investigation concludes, take another look at any measures,” he said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley were not in the Pentagon at the time of the incident. They were both at the White House for their weekly meeting with President Joe Biden and they were all aware of the ongoing situation.
All of the circumstances of the shooting remain unclear while the investigation is ongoing. The Pentagon Force Protection Agency said the scene is secure but remains “an active crime scene.”
Kirby said Tuesday afternoon that Austin was back in the Pentagon and had a chance to visit the Pentagon police operations center to check in and express his gratitude for their work.
(New York) — Police in Idaho are continuing to search for a 5-year-old boy who they say may be in danger after he went missing near his home.
Michael Joseph Vaughan was last seen near his home in Fruitland, Idaho, about 50 miles northwest of Boise, on the evening of July 27, according to the Fruitland Police Department.
Authorities described Michael as “missing and endangered” but did not provide any additional descriptions of his possible whereabouts. The boy’s family has been “fully cooperative” in the investigation, police said.
Last week, police asked any potential witnesses who may have been in the area of Southwest 9th Street and Arizona Avenue in Fruitland to come forward, even if they do not believe they saw anything.
Investigators also asked that people who live in the immediate area where Michael was last seen to “thoroughly search” their property.
The Fruitland Police Department assured the public Tuesday that the search for Michael was still ongoing.
“Our search efforts are still ongoing and extensive,” a post on the department’s Facebook page read. “Our main focus is to locate Michael.”
Police reminded volunteers engaged in their own personal searches to respect citizens’ right to deny entry to their property and to not walk through cultivated fields without the property owner’s permission.
The FBI, Idaho State Police and multiple Treasure Valley law enforcement agencies are all involved in the investigation.
Michael is described by authorities as being 3 feet, 7 inches tall, about 50 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a light blue shirt with a Minecraft graphic, dark blue boxer briefs and size 11 blue flip flops. He also answers to the nickname “Monkey,” police said.
(NEW YORK) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was found to have sexually harassed multiple women, including current and former state employees, New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday morning after a four-month probe into the allegations.
In at least one instance, the investigation determined that the governor sought to retaliate against a woman who leveled accusations against him, identified in a report released by the AG’s office as Lindsay Boylan.
According to James, the probe found that Cuomo and his staff fostered a toxic work environment. Cuomo, in a statement released after James’ announcement, denied any wrongdoing.
The attorney general’s 168-page report, released during her press conference, determined that “the governor engaged in conduct constituting sexual harassment under federal and New York State law.”
“Specifically, we find that the Governor sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees by, among other things, engaging in unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women,” the report said.
At Tuesday’s press conference, employment discrimination attorney Anne Clark, one of the investigators assigned to lead the probe, presented a litany of findings from the report, including specific examples of the governor making suggestive comments and engaging in unwanted touching that eleven women — some named, others anonymous — found “deeply humiliating and offensive.”
In an instance involving one of Cuomo’s unnamed executive assistants, the governor was found to have “reached under her blouse and grabbed her breast,” according to the report.
The same woman also recounted a circumstance in which “the Governor moved his hand to grab her butt cheek and began to rub it. The rubbing lasted at least five seconds,” the report said.
In another instance, the report describes how Cuomo sexually harassed a state trooper assigned to his protective detail, including by “running his hand across her stomach, from her belly button to her right hip, while she held a door open for him at an event” and “running his finger down her back, from the top of her neck down her spine to the middle of her back, saying ‘Hey, you,’ while she was standing in front of him in an elevator.”
In his televised statement issued Tuesday afternoon in response to the report, Cuomo said that “the facts are much different than what has been portrayed” — and gave no indication that he would heed calls for his resignation.
“I want you to know directly from me that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances,” he said.
Without directly undermining the attorney general’s report, Cuomo claimed that “politics and bias are interwoven into every aspect of this situation.”
Cuomo met with investigators for 11 hours last month and offered “a combination” of denials and admissions, Clark said Tuesday.
“There are some incidents he admitted to but had a different interpretation of, and there were other things that he denied or said he didn’t recall,” Clark added.
Once considered a leading voice among national Democrats for his aggressive response to the coronavirus pandemic, Cuomo has suffered a meteoric fall from grace in recent months under a deluge of negative headlines.
When sexual harassment claims against Cuomo emerged in March, federal investigators were already reportedly probing his administration over concerns that it withheld damning data about nursing home deaths in New York. Cuomo has also faced scrutiny over reports that he prioritized testing for his family in the early days of the pandemic.
At least six women, including several who previously worked for the three-term governor, have accused Cuomo of inappropriate behavior and unwanted advances — claims that he has either dismissed as an exaggeration or outright denied.
“Wait for the facts,” Cuomo said in March. “An opinion without facts is irresponsible.”
Reports of the alleged misconduct prompted James to launch an independent investigation, tapping two seasoned investigators to lead the probe.
As part of the fallout from the sexual harassment claims, Cuomo faced calls from several high-profile Democrats — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. — to resign. Cuomo has rebuffed those calls.
(WASHINGTON) — Even as the delta variant is causing higher COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations across the United States, President Joe Biden will discuss his push to help get people around the world vaccinated in remarks Tuesday, highlighting that the U.S. has already shipped 110 million doses abroad.
The push to share vaccines globally is an effort to halt the rise of any future variants of the virus, which global health experts warn could potentially compromise vaccine immunity.
Biden will announce that the first of 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses the administration ordered for global distribution will begin shipping at the end of August. Of those doses, 200 million are expected to ship in 2021, with the remaining 300 million to follow in 2022.
Biden announced the 500 million-dose commitment at the G-7 summit in the United Kingdom in June, as part of an effort to drum up additional contributions from allies.
“We’re gonna help lead the world out of this pandemic, working alongside our global partners,” Biden said in remarks ahead of the summit. He added that the U.S. had a “responsibility” and a “humanitarian obligation to save as many lives as we can.”
Biden will also tout a vaccine-sharing milestone Tuesday: that the U.S. has already shipped more than 110 million doses to more than 60 countries around the world, mostly through COVAX, the World Health Organization’s vaccine-sharing initiative. The U.S. has shared more doses than every other country combined, according to U.N. data.
In April, Biden first committed to sharing 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which were purchased by the U.S. but never received FDA emergency use authorization. Biden also pledged in May to share another 20 million doses of the three available vaccines in the U.S., totaling a pledge of 80 million doses. Tuesday’s remarks will highlight the fact that U.S. contributions worldwide have already outpaced that 80 million-dose pledge.
Still, global public health experts warn that wealthier nations need to step up their efforts, noting that the longer it takes for poorer countries to become vaccinated, the longer the pandemic will persist worldwide.
Various non-governmental agencies, including the Center for Strategic International Studies, the Duke University Global Health Institute and the Center for Global Development penned an open letter to the Biden administration Tuesday, calling on the U.S. to ramp up its efforts.
“The US and G7 allies have taken important but modest steps to close the global vaccine gap, including by accelerating large-scale production and delivery of high-quality vaccines, increasing financial support to COVAX, and committing to share roughly 900 million doses over the next year (including 580 million from the US). But these actions fall far short of the true scale and urgency required,” the letter says.
“Getting 110 million doses out is really helpful, but in the scale that we need to find a way to get 10 billion plus doses out, it’s not even in the order of magnitude to make a difference,” said Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Center. “The U.S. has done more than any other country so far, but that’s more an indictment of the whole response, as opposed to the U.S. standing out in any positive way.”
Udayakumar warned that while the focus continues to be on worldwide vaccine supply, distribution challenges will soon come to the fore.
“We have under-invested on the ground in ensuring vaccines can turn into vaccinations. My biggest concern is we’re going to see vaccines sitting in freezers around the world.” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — Two Washington, D.C.. Metropolitan Police Department officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot died by suicide in July, the department announced on Monday, nearly seven months after the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump supporters.
Officer Kyle DeFreytag, who was on the force since November 2016, and Officer Gunther Hashida, an 18-year-veteran of the force, are among the three MPD officers who have so far died by suicide in 2021, the department said.
President Joe Biden expressed his gratitude toward the officers in a tweet on Tuesday morning, hailing them as “American heroes.”
“When the United States Capitol and our very democracy were under attack on January 6th, Officers Hashida and DeFreytag courageously risked their lives to defend them. They were American heroes. Jill and I are keeping their loved ones in our prayers during this difficult time,” he said.
It is not clear if the events of Jan. 6 contributed to the officers’ suicides, and research shows that law enforcement officers experience stressors as a regular part of the job and can struggle with mental health issues.
“On a daily basis, officers experience job-related stressors that can range from interpersonal conflicts to extremely traumatic events, such as vehicle crashes, homicide, and suicide. This cumulative exposure can affect officers’ mental and physical health, contributing to problems such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, substance misuse, depression, and suicidal ideation,” a research paper released by the Justice Department and Police groups said.
Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood also died by suicide in the months after responding to the Jan. 6 attack.
“After assisting riot control at the Capitol on January 6th, USCP scheduled Howie to work lengthy shifts in the immediate days following. He was home for very few hours over the course of four days,” Serena Liebengood, his wife, wrote to Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., in March.
In the nearly seven months since the attack, law enforcement suicide experts say the families of those who responded to the incident say they’ve behaved differently.
A Jan. 6 rally in support of then-President Donald Trump turned deadly after Trump encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill, where Congress was meeting to certify Biden’s election win.
Rioters breached barricades and security checkpoints, forcing Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers to evacuate or shelter in place and temporarily disrupting the certification. At least 140 police officers were injured and the Capitol building suffered approximately $1.5 million in damage.
According to B.L.U.E. Help, a nonprofit that works to reduce stigmas tied to mental health issues for those in law enforcement., 87 police officers from across the country have died by suicide so far in 2021.
Karen Solomon, who runs Blue H.E.L.P, said officers are afraid to speak to the media about the Jan. 6 events because for fear of losing their jobs.
“It’s compounded by the public scrutiny and lack of support for the officers, not only by the public but from other officers who are still standing by the ‘it was one day’ suck it up mentality. We are now seven months out, what has been done? How are these officers being assisted?” she said. “This is one of the most talked about events in the country, yet we are still ignoring the needs of some of the victims of this event — the police officers.”
“There is still too much talk around first responder mental health, too much money being wasted discussing what needs to be done, and not enough action,” she added. “How many more families are going to watch their loved ones suffer, watch it sensationalized and then see it disappear again into yesterday’s headlines?”
Last week, the House select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol held its first hearing in which lawmakers heard dramatic, emotional accounts from officers who defended the building.
Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn told lawmakers he is receiving private therapy for the “persistent emotional trauma” he faces from that day.
“I know so many other officers continue to hurt, both physically and emotionally. I want to take this moment to speak to my fellow officers about the emotions they are continuing to experience from the events of Jan. 6. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with seeking professional counseling,” Dunn said. “What we went through that day was traumatic, and if you are hurting, please take advantage of the counseling services that are available to us.”
He also pleaded with the panel, which hasn’t announced its next public hearing, to look into mental health resources available for officers to decide if they are “sufficient enough to meet our needs.”
